The act attempted to remedy this evil by restricting the right of landlords to eject their tenants and prevented them from raising the rent except for limited purposes.
At the same time, in fairness to the landlords, mortgagees of houses controlled by the act were prevented from increasing the rate of interest and restricted in their rights to enforce the security.
Following the report of the Salisbury Committee into the continuing deterioration in the housing supply, the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act 1920 was passed, which consolidated and amended the earlier legislation.
The standard rent and rateable value limits were increased to £105 in London, £90 in Scotland and £78 elsewhere, and so applied to the great majority of let houses in the country.
Premises used for business, trade or professional purposes, or for the public service were brought within the act for one year (with slightly different percentage increases to those outlined below for dwellings).
Following the report of the Onslow Committee, the Rent and Mortgage Interest Restrictions Act 1923 became the first measure to reverse the machinery of control.
They had reported that the gradual decontrol inaugurated by the 1923 Act had worked satisfactorily with regard to the medium-sized houses, but too slowly to the largest and too quickly to the smallest.
Rents could be increased by a percentage of the relevant expenditure to reflect the provision of additional or improved fixtures or fittings made after enactment of the 1933 Act.
Because rateable values were now the sole criterion for the continued applicability of the acts, the result was decontrol of a large number of houses where the recoverable rent would have kept them in control.
All tenancies owned by local authorities, development corporations and housing associations and trusts were excluded from the application of the Rent Acts.
lt also transformed the method of fixing the maximum rent payable by tenants by introducing a formula based upon rateable value.
Eight per cent of the net cost of any improvement (i.e. after deducting the amount of any grant received by the landlord) for works completed after 5 July 1957 could be added to the rent.
Offenders attempting to obtain from prospective tenants excessive amounts for furniture and fittings were liable to be punished by a fine not exceeding £100.
The Journal of the Institute of Rent Officers JIRO was published quarterly to encourage discussion of procedures, valuation practice and to provide information about new legislation and "case law" arising from legal decisions in the Courts relating to landlord and tenant matters.
The 1965 act also raised to £400 in Greater London and £200 elsewhere the rateable value limits of furnished houses within the jurisdiction of rent tribunals and extended the maximum period by which they could delay the operation of a notice to quit to six months.
This power was never exercised and the Housing Act 1969 introduced a phased programme of conversion, determined by rateable values, and the qualification certificate procedure outlined below, for those controlled tenancies in good repair and equipped with standard amenities.
It amended Section 33 of the Rent Act 1965 to ensure that, subject to conditions, the tenant of a tied cottage, or his widow, would automatically get at least six months' security of tenure alter the employment ended.
A county court could, upon application, determine an increase in the rent of controlled or regulated tenancies due to the cost of carrying out fire precaution works.
Luxury blocks of flats with extensive porterage and services were swept into control and even in Central London only a few very large individual houses in Regent's Park were found to be outside the scope of Rent Act protection.
The gradual decontrol process based on rateable values was stopped, and a system of phased rent increases was introduced for all tenancies.
The Social Security (Consequential Provisions) Act 1992 required the amount attributable to services to be noted on the Rent Register to assist the assessment of housing benefit.
A more limited discretion to award security of tenure (a maximum of three months) was given to the county court, as part of the possession order proceedings.
Protection could now extend to previously protected tenancies—those that belonged to Her Majesty in right of the Crown, if managed by the Crown Estate Commissioners (largely in the right of the Duchy of Lancaster, tenancies that belong to the Duchy of Cornwall), statutory tenancies under the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 and long leaseholds at low rents (Part I Landlord and Tenant Act 1954).
It also dealt with sales and gifts of mobile homes, inheritance and change of site ownership, pitch fees, other terms of agreements and provided machinery for dealing with disputes.
The Rent (Amendment) Act 1985 reversed the decision in Pocock v. Steel (1985 CA), which decided that an owner-occupier had to live in the house immediately before each and every letting to be able to obtain a mandatory order for possession.
Once building societies changed their policies to offer 75% or sometimes larger mortgages at the same rates as paid for those for house purchases, landlords were able to sell flats as they became vacant on long leaseholds.
Much of the equipment had been installed in the 1930s when the blocks built (lifts, central heating and hot water boilers, roofs and windows) which had been neglected in low rent times.
In an obscure comer (Schedule I7 "Minor and consequential amendments") it removed the final remaining provision for the phasing of increases of rent - for housing association tenants.
A landlord may not now exercise a right of re-entry or forfeiture for failure to pay a service charge unless it has been agreed by the tenant or has been the subject of a determination by a court or appeal tribunal.
As no new protected tenancies had been created after 15 January 1989 after the Housing Act 1988 fewer applications for fair rents were received in most areas of the country except in central London.